Northern Chile

October - November 2011
35mm film

ALMA, one of the shooting locations for my next film, a global collaboration to make the oldest parts of the cosmos visible for the first time. At 17,000 ft, this is the highest observatory in the world and the largest astronomy project in human history.
Lasana
Chincorro Mummy
Atacama Desert

Chiu Chiu
San Pedro de Atacama
Valle de la Luna
Very Large Telescope (Cerro Paranal)
A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Yepun’s laser beam crosses the majestic southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. The Laser Guide Star (LGS) is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system and is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect of the atmosphere on images. The colour of the laser is precisely tuned to energise a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere — one can recognise the familiar colour of sodium street lamps in the colour of the laser. This layer of sodium atoms is thought to be a leftover from meteorites entering the Earth’s atmosphere. When excited by the light from the laser, the atoms start glowing, forming a small bright spot that can be used as an artificial reference star for the adaptive optics. Using this technique, astronomers can obtain sharper observations. For example, when looking towards the centre of our Milky Way, researchers can better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust. Photo by Yuri Beletsky.